After completing my first game in Gdevelop, I have learnt what Gdevelop does and how to make my own game in it.
I have also learnt a lot from the book Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games by Tracy Fullerton : A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Fourth Edition by Tracy Fullerton. This book has inspired me a lot when I was deisgning Planet X and I will list them out as follow:
First two chapters: I have learnt the importance of playtesting and prototyping for game designers. Therefore, in order to ensure I am able to deliver a smooth and interacting game experience to the players, several playtesting and prototypes have been done.
Chapter 3(Working with Formal Elements): I have learnt to define the player's role in game clearly. For Planet X, the player's role is to help Zyrahn to eat as many alien enemies as possible.
Chapter 4: I have learnt about considering dramatic elements when designing games, such as setting up a story and theme for my games. For Planet X, I have set up the story of Zyrahn and what he encountered in the mysterious planet.
Chapter 5: I have learnt about system dynamics in game design. In Planet X, blocks are placed in random positions around. Players can jump between different blocks , some of them are close/far between each other, while some of them are high/low between each other. The player must stay on the platform to survive.
Chapter 7 & 8: This chapter is about prototypinig. In order to have the ideas on how to design and develop my game, I have done some prototypes for my game. Some refinements were made during prototyping before I came out with the final version of my game.
I sketched out prototype ideas of my gameplay concepts. According to the book, prototypes can be completed by simple sketches physically or digitally. In order to make refinements or move objects easier, I did my prototype on a tablet computer.
According to chapter 7, refinement is the time to add all good ideas for features that have come up while testing. My first version of my prototype is platfroms will be placed on about same level with different heights. I realise the game could be more fun to have platforms all around. This allows the player to reach platfroms at different height and levels; thus enhances the player experience and make it flow.
Book reference: Fullerton, T. (2019). Game design workshop : a playcentric approach to creating innovative games (Fourth edition.). CRC Press.